Emergency all my fish dying

[aggrofish]

thank you for your comments. I will do that from now on… I didn’t have my own car but my new car is arriving this month… I’ll do biweekly trips to Walmart for roid water …

How big is your tank. Stores sell distilled which will work, but here locally it's close to $1.00 a gallon. You can connect a small system like a 50GPD right up to your kitchen sink. You're going to want RODI for both mixing salt and your top off water. RO, or reverse osmosis will remove most solids from your water. to get the water down to zero total dissolved solids (TDS) you're going to want the deionization stage. When looking look for RODI. You can get a cheapish RODI buddy for around $70

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Hello,

i did my two week 20% water change yesterday and I wake up today to by royal gramma, my blue fish and q cleaner shrimp dead. I checked salinity and it’s at 1.024, ph at 8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0-5. Temperature 79

i frankly don’t know what I did wrong but this breaks my heart as I’ve been taking care of this fish for over a year. I don’t know how I ****** up.

My two clownfish are struggling to breathe. Please help me to figure out what is wrong

Did you clean out the filter? When I first started I killed all my fish multiple times before I figured out that I was cleaning out the filter really good which killed all my beneficial bacteria causing a ammonia spike.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

You do not need ro water for an emergency water change especially if you don't have sps corals. Make sure you declorinate and match temperature. If you need a water change, paying 1$ a gallon and wasting valuable time looking for or making water is just wasted time.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Have you tested for ammonia? If not this is absolutely the most important first step. If you think chlorine is the problem, there is absolutely no harm in adding more declorinator to your tank.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

If you have ammonia seachem prime will give you 24 to 48 hrs. Always have prime on hand. It will also dechlorinate.

 

[Malcontent]

What dechlorinator did you use?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

You do not need ro water for an emergency water change especially if you don't have sps corals. Make sure you declorinate and match temperature. If you need a water change, paying 1$ a gallon and wasting valuable time looking for or making water is just wasted time.

That completely depends on where you live and what your tap situation is.

I have 480ppm from the tap which includes chlorine, metals, lead..

You couldn't pay me to make salt water with tap even in an emergency.

 

[davidcalgary29]

thank you for your comments. I will do that from now on… I didn’t have my own car but my new car is arriving this month… I’ll do biweekly trips to Walmart for roid water …

So sorry to hear about your struggles. Some additional things to consider:

1. The local Co-op (pronounced "coop" on the Prairies) has distilled water. You can use that.

2. Join the Edmonton Saltwater Enthusiasts Facebook group for immediate help: it's a great group of people.

3. Get some berghia nudibrachs for your aiptasia problem from Mitchell at New Dawn Aquaculture. He's a super, super guy and has excellent captive-bred fish as well. He's local for you and a great source.

4. Vaccum up your cyano. Dosing phyto -- slowly! -- will help. Neal at Marine Experience has big bottles of live culture for $20. My Little Ocean is also local, and they will ship to you at a reduced cost since you're close to them.

 

[Holst]

As many other- I would not go with tap water either. If you have been doing this for a year with no problem, thats ok. But there could have been a damage and repair on the water line or so releasing a lot of **** in the water, not saying thats what happened, but could be a risk.

And with that air stone and so on, what you wanna do with that ? Dont you have a Skimmer ? Then you got all the air in the water that you need.

I really hope you find the source or that it only happens one time for you..
Best of luck mate.

 

[MnFish1]

thank you for your comments. I will do that from now on… I didn’t have my own car but my new car is arriving this month… I’ll do biweekly trips to Walmart for roid water …

This is a sad situation - and as your store said - maybe it as chlorine.

That said - as you said youre new to this - and a number of other things could also be playing a role (unless they measured a high chlorine level in your tank/tap water with a test).

I would strongly consider asking your water board - and ask them if they did anything - with extra chlorine or chloramine (which sometimes happens in the spring).

Also - I would look into the other suggested things - and not just assume its 'chlorine' - since MOST of the products used well account for these extra boosts.

 

[cleanbuttpotatoe]

So sorry to hear about your struggles. Some additional things to consider:

1. The local Co-op (pronounced "coop" to anyone not on the Prairies) has distilled water. You can use that.

2. Join the Edmonton Saltwater Enthusiasts Facebook group for immediate help: it's a great group of people.

3. Get some berghia nudibrachs for your aiptasia problem from Mitchell at New Dawn Aquaculture. He's a super, super guy and has excellent captive-bred fish as well. He's local for you and a great source.

4. Vaccum up your cyano. Dosing phyto -- slowly! -- will help. Neal at Marine Experience has big bottles of live culture for $20. My Little Ocean is also local, and they will ship to you at a reduced cost since you're close to them.

Im gonna print out this comment and frame it. Thank you so much

 

[vetteguy53081]

Many causes but appears your tap water is one chief issue (this time of the year municipalities add flouride, chlorine and chloromines)
Additionally, you want to mix new salt to same temp and salinity as display tank and verify before adding. Best to pump it to tank but if you used bucket and dumped it in, you may have stirred up the sandbed and initiated spikes.
Add aeration with an airstone to both move the water and break up surface for O2 exchange.
Gasping may be temporary or fatal.
What test kits are you using as the zero readings while not impossible causes concern right after a water change

 

[MnFish1]

Not to sound too harsh but it was 100 percent in your control, I wouldn't use tap pater for a $1.00 goldfish. If you have options I would never go back to that LFS that knows you're using tap water and isn't recommending you use at minimum distilled or suggesting you pick up an RODI system to make your own water. Now you know.

Actually - there was recently a huge thread - about whether to use tap water or RODI - in another thread - IMHo - it totally depends on the water coming from your tap - copper levels, chlorine, etc etc. etc. To be safe - one should check with their water company - and most water detoxifiers will make tap water fine to use depending on the tank you're trying to have. I use my own made RODI. IMHO - you're making a broad statement - which does not apply to everyone.

 

[cleanbuttpotatoe]

Just to update you, I’ve added the carbon, moved two pumps to the top to create more waved and dosed more solution to remove the chlorine.
Everyone se me q bit more active than this morning but I’m going to keep checking in them. I truly appreciate all your help

 

[Lionfish hunter]

That completely depends on where you live and what your tap situation is.

I have 480ppm from the tap which includes chlorine, metals, lead..

You couldn't pay me to make salt water with tap even in an emergency.

yeah your fish won’t care, at all.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Just to update you, I’ve added the carbon, moved two pumps to the top to create more waved and dosed more solution to remove the chlorine.
Everyone se me q bit more active than this morning but I’m going to keep checking in them. I truly appreciate all your help

I’m sure you did already, but did you test for ammonia? When multiple fish are dying for no apparent reason, it’s ammonia probably 70+ percent of the time.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

I don’t see on here where you posted your water parameters. We need to know what your ammonia, nitrite, temperature, and salinity are. Any one of those will kill your fish. If those are fine, ensure there is oxygen being but in the water by surface agitation.

Assuming it is tap water killing your fish without asking for those parameters is insanity. Maybe you already know but the advice has not been given to you. The above are what kill fish more times than not.

To be clear, tap water will almost never kill your fish if declorinated properly. It is such a small chance its almost not worth talking about. Will it cause all kinds of algae? yes. Could it cause longterm issues with corals due to contaminates and metals? yes. Is it going to harm your fish at all? NO!

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Has anything wet been added to the tank in the past 2 weeks? Marine velvet is common and can come on rocks, chaeto, fish, etc. It can certainly wipe out a tank fast and does not always show spots on your fish. If you have added anything wet recently, this is a strong possibility. We have all been through it one time or another.

 

[cleanbuttpotatoe]

I’m sure you did already, but did you test for ammonia? When multiple fish are dying for no apparent reason, it’s ammonia probably 70+ percent of the time.

Yeah it’s the first thing I did and it was at 0. It seems my fish are better now with the changes but I’ll keep monitoring

 

[cleanbuttpotatoe]

I don’t see on here where you posted your water parameters. We need to know what your ammonia, nitrite, temperature, and salinity are. Any one of those will kill your fish. If those are fine, ensure there is oxygen being but in the water by surface agitation.

Assuming it is tap water killing your fish without asking for those parameters is insanity. Maybe you already know but the advice has not been given to you. The above are what kill fish more times than not.

To be clear, tap water will almost never kill your fish if declorinated properly. It is such a small chance its almost not worth talking about. Will it cause all kinds of algae? yes. Could it cause longterm issues with corals due to contaminates and metals? yes. Is it going to harm your fish at all? NO!

It’s actually all in my first post